Alone in the Park - it's the Prem 2020-21 thread

while that chairman and those players and those aspirations stay in place only a greedy moron takes that job

Is that any way to talk about the Wolves manager?

Maybe i should have said especially greedy

UEFA have confirmed that players will be banned from playing for their national teams.

I'm a little sceptical, tbh. It makes sense to play hardball at the moment but it seems inconceivable.

It's not clear why it would be fair to punish Denmark, for example, by banning Eriksen, Kjaer, Brathwaite and Hojbjerg from the Euros or Eriksen, Kjaer, Brathwaite and Hojbjerg for a decision they've got no input in to.

All posturing at this point I guess

Good to see UEFA acting out of a sense of ethical responsibility at last though

It's going to be very interesting to see who takes over. The assumption for a while has been Naglesmann but, with more or less the whole of German football opposed to the ESL, there might be some understandable reticence on his part.

― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, April 19, 2021 10:50 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

be surprised if levy is willing to stump up nagelsmann's 20m euro release clause. chris wilder is available.

We'll be OK, Oli McBurnie plays for Sheffield Utd iirs.

We are examining every option from governance reform to competition law and mechanisms that allow football to take place. We will put everything on the table. They have put money before fans

'We don't know what law it's meant to violate but, damn it, we'll think of one'.

Culture Secretary Dowden announces a fan-led review of football in wake of six EPL clubs wanting to breakaway, saying: "We will do whatever it takes to protect our national game"

— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) April 19, 2021

Reviving the Corbyn classics again.

What are the clubs breaking away from exactly

Not leaving epl

Just forfeiting ul/cl and setting up a rival, right?

Exactly, which makes all the talk of a 'national institution at risk' sounds very hyperbolic.

Wait, they're not leaving the epl ?! Then i no give a fook lol.

18-25 games a year in the Soopa-League means less resources for domestic competitions I suppose. The national institution they're talking about must mean the Carabao Cup aka the Milk Cup.

lol, there is a meeting this Friday to decide whether Chelsea, Man City and Real Madrid get kicked out of this season’s Champions League, which might make PSG winners by default.

poch out

Smart for them to say fuck all this week so

Given pochs record with getting over the line, prob a reasonable approach

psg to win it then join the ESL

What are the clubs breaking away from exactly

Not leaving epl

Just forfeiting ul/cl and setting up a rival, right?

― flagpost fucking (darraghmac), Monday, 19 April 2021 16:18 (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Exactly, which makes all the talk of a 'national institution at risk' sounds very hyperbolic.

― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, 19 April 2021 16:25 (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is FP-worthy sangfroid from the both of ye

Ive so little interest in any aspect of football since the implementation of VAR and the wreckage of the poch era that this both hammers that home but also contains glimmers of at least a different avenue of misery

Add in jose out and rly its been a strange day

Actual information processing would certainly be a step too far

Exactly, which makes all the talk of a 'national institution at risk' sounds very hyperbolic.

― Scampo di tutti i Scampi (ShariVari), Monday, April 19, 2021 12:25 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

The disparity between Super League franchises and national domestic leagues is going to accelerate and I understand why some fans worry for their clubs or the health of the sport.

i dunno

what major objections to this shitty manouevre dont amount to a defence of how shitty football already is lj

Could we take several steps back and chart an alternative path then im all ears

But -not here- im seeing outrage at some clubs doing exactly what either they have always done or what they would have done had they been invited or let

Its the first time ive felt like one of them lads saying i cant care about the soulless entity that is x since they did y, but its about *waves hands* ~high level football~ so i dont want to hear any arguments that something sacred and pure has been betrayed because look at who wins look at how little players care or even seem to enjoy their play look how actually shit they are look how bad matches are look how much of a joke var and reffing and governance are look at the fucking agents look at the fuckin state of it all

arguably a combo of jose and sissoko/aurier/dier may have done this to me but like fuck it, there used to be something worth watching here now i only catch spurs games to hate them and i wouldnt watch a full match of any other two teams in world football if you paid me and laid on the grub also

this may be related to a late-lockdown jadednes also tbf

Spurs fans preparing to sell out a bit quicker than I thought they would.

I get the jadedness but personally that's mainly about not being able to watch mediocre matches on the TV with friends in the pub, give us that back and I'll probably care again

So yes whatever this Superleague turns out to be is only another step on a well trod path towards professional football being ruined forever but it still feels like a potentially big horrible step

what major objections to this shitty manouevre dont amount to a defence of how shitty football already is lj

― flagpost fucking (darraghmac), Monday, April 19, 2021 12:45 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think football fans have yearned for change for a while and the Super League is the realization that it won't come for decades.

I’m not in favour of the Super League but the time to get authentocratic about the sanctity of the game was some point before the leveraged buyouts, investors laundering organised crime profits through clubs, etc.

Expecting businesses to not operate like businesses is pointless.

Yeah, I wish there was a similar amount of outrage when MIC bought City.

Definitely not a dig at fans who are upset at this but politicians who have let it get to this stage and are now trying to score points can gtfo.

I don't want to point to city but yes, city

City and the showily fuck-you implementation of VAR

at least half these ownership groups have been terrible at the business of running their football clubs over the last few years so i wouldn't expect their attempts to run a league to do much better

if this new el doesn't have var i might be tempted

nah

Abramovich i mean sure but a challenge by any means to united that wasnt the unattainably organic arsenal option was almost welcome back then i think

I think lfc the most laudably run of the six, given all angles i can quickly think of

Lining up second captains immediate reaction show

Ken hates mourinho should be good

i'm an lfc fan but the whole 'this means more' bullshit annoys me to an insane degree.

well done jurgen

what exactly is the incentive for lfc players to shake a leg tonight? To get in the top 4? why?

so stoked for the idea that the Superleague might run aground on EU law

Alternatively, the effort to stop it might.

In its statement on the European Super League, @Uefa has announced that the breakaway clubs and their players will be banned from all official competitions. Legally, UEFA cannot enforce this – and the clubs know it. The reason? EU law.
A short thread./ https://t.co/Hyx2mRVUlO

— Jan Zglinski (@JanZglinski) April 19, 2021

lol beautiful

Superleague Means Superleague

Seems pretty clear that none of these proposals are runners:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/apr/19/the-european-super-league-what-can-boris-johnson-do-about-it

finding this bit hard to parse tho:

Restrictions on third-party organisers can only be imposed e.g. if there are risks of manipulation or to ensure that competitions meet common standards. Clearly not an issue with the Super League.

because it feels like, from what we know so far, those things could arguably be an issue?

I think the gist is that regulators can act proportionately to stop things in cases where there is a risk of match-fixing, etc, that bring the sport into disrepute but not when there are legitimate tournaments in commercial opposition to their own.

oh right, i heard an opinion that there are other aspects of EU law that might ask questions of a competition formed as a closed shop with some token chaff thrown in

Leeds are warming up to face Liverpool with t-shirts that say: 'Champions League: EARN IT. Football is for the fans.' pic.twitter.com/XgU912QPpH

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) April 19, 2021

Leeds owners wish they could be in the Super League.

oh great point

I’m just pointing out that there is some hypocrisy going on.

oh right, i heard an opinion that there are other aspects of EU law that might ask questions of a competition formed as a closed shop with some token chaff thrown in

― Call of Scampi: Slack Nephrops (Noodle Vague), Monday, 19 April 2021 18:49 (forty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Rich to start now and not with the uk parliament or etc etc

how does this affect sheffield united?

I'm still waiting for Billy Sharp's take on ESL before I really know what to think!

In other football news, a teacher has paid Drunken Duncan to have a word with one of his students.

Little brother got a message from Big Dunc giving him a little kick up the arse for slacking in school 🤣 our footy club is boss UTFT 💙 pic.twitter.com/8YzsXaviCy

— Jack simmons (@JackSimmo1998) April 19, 2021